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This fall marked a quarter century since the release of Nirvana's groundbreaking album Nevermind, and Krist Novoselic says he didn't celebrate the milestone so much as reflect on it. On a visit to Rolling Stone's office, the bassist shared a stream-of-consciousness recollection of his band's musical life since then.

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"I wish Kurt was still around," he says. "A whole new generation of listeners are discovering Nirvana and is connecting with Nirvana. It's always good that we remember Kurt. He lives on.

"You know Kurt was a cynical bastard," Novoselic continues. "He could be a vicious critic. You know, I love him, but boy, I don't know what he'd think of a lot of music today. He wouldn't hold his punches. Kurt just had so much passion, the way he'd sing and feel about the music. We all had this intensity."

Elsewhere in the clip, Novoselic discusses the thrills of playing with Cobain and Dave Grohl, and reflects on his reunion with the former Nirvana drummer and guitarist Pat Smear during the "Cut Me Some Slack" sessions with Paul McCartney, whom he likens to Cobain as "really talented left-handed songwriter."

Although the bassist is currently playing in a couple of new acts, the reason he stopped by Rolling Stone was to advocate for election reform. Novoselic, on behalf of the organization FairVote, is campaigning to raise awareness for ranked-choice voting, a system similar to a primary in which voters would mark a first-choice candidate, followed by a second and on down. It's a system he says would even the playing field for third-party candidates and promote more issues-oriented debates. The state of Maine will decide this election whether to adopt ranked-choice voting as its election model.